On the heels of the CSI:NY and Second Life episode tie-in -- which generated a lot of buzz, but not so much quantifiable gains for Second Life, Raph Koster wonders if virtual worlds are becoming "mainstream." He cites the folks from Metaversed, who like Alice, agree there really aren't that many "true" virtual worlds, though their definition is based in different factors: "A Social Virtual World has game-like immersion and social media functionality without narrative driven goals. At its core is a sense of presence with others at the same time and place." Metaversed's list includes Second Life, Kaneva, vSide, Entropia, Ogoglio City, There.com and MTV's worlds.(*)

Raph correctly observes that even though this list doesn't represent the largest segment of the virtual worlds space, it's the one driving the "mainstreaming" trend. Raph points also out that, as concerns the CSI example, most people were logging in "to play a game," and makes this salient conclusion:

The bottom line is something that has been known for a very long time. Chat is never enough. Try to find a real-world business built on social interaction without something to do, and what you will find is that successful social (or “third”) places generally rely on a shared activity: drinks at the bar serving as a lubricant, bingo at the church, bowling at the lanes, a movie to ignore, and so on.

So, is there hope for mainstreaming for non-entertainment apps? Absolutely. But in my opinion, it’s not going to come from pure social virtual worlds. Entertainment is going to continue being the key driver.

[*CORRECTION: The article originally attributed the list of "true" virtual worlds and their definitions to Raph Koster, when in fact they were Metaversed's.]

[Via Raph's Website]